Template Guidelines: Identify and Select High-Potential Employees

The Succession Planning Status Worksheet Example shows that five positions should receive the highest priority in the succession planning strategy. However, limiting the strategy to only these five positions would limit the number of potential leaders targeted to receive leadership developmental opportunities, and who could fill leadership vacancies. We recommend developing an acceleration pool (sometimes called a talent pool) of highpotential employees to receive enhanced developmental experiences. y using an acceleration pool, your agency can increase the number of employees who will be prepared to step into higher-level !obs. "our #uccession $lanning Team will need to exercise care in developing a plan for selecting high-potential employees for the acceleration pool. "our team should consider the following when identifying high-potential employees% "our agency will be expending significant resources on the enhanced development of those in the acceleration pool & it is important to include only those who have real potential for leadership positions. 't is e(ually important to develop a process that ensures that every employee with leadership potential is fairly and thoroughly considered for participation. 'f yours is a public agency, your selection process may have to conform to certain merit system standards of fair and open competition. "our agency will also want to ensure that the selection process results in a diverse group of employees to include in the acceleration pool.

Building your Acceleration Pool

Nomination Criteria% "our agency)s si*e, organi*ational structure, merit system regulations and culture will in part determine the nomination criteria you)ll use. +mployee re(uirements to consider include% +ducational level,degrees "ears with the agency -urrent or prior supervisory experience -lassification level 't is important to remember that you are basing your criteria on the future potential of the employee, rather than their current capacity.

/se the Acceleration Pool Applicant Profile to help you determine the type of criteria your agency will use to nominate employees to the acceleration pool. Management Nomination Self Nomination% We recommend a system where employees can nominate themselves to the acceleration pool, and managers can nominate employees from within their organi*ational units. 'n both cases, nominees would have to satisfy the nomination criteria you)ve established for the pool. 'nviting employees to nomination themselves sends an important message about the openness of your process and is most consistent with merit system principles. #ome employees may be too modest to nominate themselves0 inviting management-initiated nominations may include some high-potentials who would not have self-nominated. "ou can use or adapt the Acceleration Pool Nomination Form to meet your agency)s needs. 1s2ing nominees to also provide the information on the Acceleration Pool Applicant Profile will provide you with a more complete picture of the nominee)s bac2ground and capacity. The Selection Process% "ou should establish a screening process for the nominees to the acceleration pool in order to decide who to select. The three-step screening process outlined below is sufficient0 there are also some additional optional steps from which to choose. The Succession Planning Team does an initial screening (3ptional)% your team can use the nomination materials and the Acceleration Pool Nomination Summary to summari*e the information from the individual nomination forms. This step is most useful in those organi*ations with a large number of applicants and relatively few slots in the acceleration pool.

Written answers to behavioral-based (uestions (3ptional)% 1s2 nominees to submit written answers of not more than two pages each to several (uestions related to the nomination criteria in the 1cceleration $ool 4omination 5orm. We recommend that the answers be scored by individuals within your agency who are trained on behavioral interviewing. This written exercise accomplishes has several goals%

1s2ing applicants to prepare a lengthy written document will screen out those who are not seriously interested in the process. 't provides a screening tool that helps reduce the number of applicants who will be given an in-person interview. (This may not be an issue in small agencies with few initial applicants.) 'f you use 6blind scoring7 (the names of applicants are coded and removed from the answer sheets), the process adds credibility. "ou can easily evaluate the applicants) writing s2ills.

#ee the Gap- losing !ool "it - !ool # for detailed information on how to develop behavioral-based (uestions.

Succession Planning Templates

Sample: Completed Succession Planning Status !or"sheet

$etirement Status 1 Num#er of Staff $eady No% . : : . : : 8 . . 8 : : : 8 . 8 : . : Num#er of Staff $eady in &-' (ears . : 8 8 . : < 8 . 8 : . : < 8 8 : 8 : Succession Planning Priorities x x

Position Title 1gency 9irector -hief 9eputy 'T 9irector 5inance 9irector udget 9ir 1ccounting 9ir H; 9irector =abor ;elations $ersonnel #taff 9evelopment -ommunications 9ir 9irector of $olicy >uality and $lanning 5ield 3perations 9ir 3ffice 1 9irector 3ffice 9irector 3ffice - 9irector 3ffice 9 9irector -linical #pecialist

Incum#ent Name

Criticality . . . . 8 8 . 8 8 8 . . 8 . 8 8 8 8 .

1 1 -

x x

1 1 $etirement Status: 1% ;etirement li2ely within . year % ;etirement li2ely within < years -% ;etirement eligible within ? years

Criticality: .% -ritical - @ust Ahit the ground runningA 8% Bery 'mportant - 5ully functional within C months

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!or"sheet: Succession Planning Status

$etirement Status Num#er of Staff $eady No% Num#er of Staff $eady in &-' (ears Succession Planning Priorities

Position Title

Incum#ent Name

Criticality

$etirement Status: 1% ;etirement li2ely within . year % ;etirement li2ely within < years -% ;etirement eligible within ? years

Criticality: .% -ritical - @ust Ahit the ground runningA 8% Bery 'mportant - 5ully functional within C months

)cceleration Pool Nomination *orm&

Nominee Name: Nominated +y% -eadership )rea Support of )gency /alues ehaves -onsistently with values 9isplays respect for others 's a good team player 'dentifies with management -eadership Promise 's motivated to lead 1ccepts leadership responsibility @obili*es resources,people to action =eads teams that have high morale Interpersonal S"ills -ommunicates clearly and effectively @a2es effective presentations 9emonstrates diplomacy 's trusted and respected ,emonstration of $esults #hows positive team,unit results 9isplays ob!ective indicators of success 1ccomplishes ma!or assignments ,e.elopmental 0rientation Has accurate self-insight 's coachable0 accepts feedbac2 Has history of learning from experience >uic2ly learns new tas2s #elf-initiates development activities Classification% ,ate% Strength Proficient ,e.elopmental Need

1dapted from yham, William -., 1udrey . #mith, @atthew E. $aese. 8::8. Gro$ %our &$n 'eaders( Acceleration Pools) A Ne$ *ethod of Succession *anagement . /pper #addle ;iver, 4E% $rentice-Hall 'nc.

)cceleration Pool )pplicant Profile'

Employee Information
4ame% Title% Eob -lassification% =ength of #ervice% Time in -urrent Eob% -urrent #upervisor%

Career Goals
. to < "ears% < to ? "ears: eyond ? "ears%

Educational History
'nstitution% 'nstitution% 'nstitution% 9egree% 9egree% 9egree% 1rea of #tudy% 1rea of #tudy% 1rea of #tudy% "ears% "ears% "ears%

Special S"ills E1pertise

=anguages% Technology% $rofessional +xpertise% 3ther%

,e.elopmental E1periences - Past 2 (ears

5ormal Training% #pecial 1ssignments% 3ther% -ompetencies,#2ills 9eveloped% -ompetencies,#2ills 9eveloped% -ompetencies,#2ills 9eveloped%

1dapted from yham, William -., 1udrey . #mith, @atthew E. $aese. 8::8. Gro$ %our &$n 'eaders( Acceleration Pools) A Ne$ *ethod of Succession *anagement . /pper #addle ;iver, 4E% $rentice-Hall 'nc.

)cceleration Pool Nomination Summary

Support of )gency /alues # # $ $ $ 9

Name 1pplicant 1 1pplicant 1pplicant 1pplicant 9 1pplicant + 1pplicant 5

-eadership Promise # # $ # $ $

Interpersonal S"ills # $ # $ $ $

,emonstration of $esults $ $ # # $ $

,e.elopmental 0rientation # # $ $ # $

# F #trength $ F $roficiency 9 F 9evelopmental 4eed